‘This Recording’ Catalogs All-Time Best Magazine Runs

As Time rolls out its 2010 list of the 100 Most Influential People, thoughtful, superlative-prone internet publication This Recording today proffers a meta-take on the “influential list” format by running down the “Finest Magazine Runs in Human History.”

Esquire‘s 1961-1973 series gets the No. 1 slot, thanks to its nostalgia-inspiring “style and substance.” This Recording laments the glossy’s current efforts to conflate lad-mag sexiness with journalistic seriousness.

Time from 1939 to 1945 gets second place for being the “most well-written compendium of critical thought ever to enter the public sphere at the time.” Similar to Esquire, though, today This Recording views today’s Time as an “absolute mess.”

The New York Review of Books 1976-1992, Mad 1958-1963 and National Lampoon 1971-1979 round out the top five. Honorable mentions include Ranger Rick, The Believer and Cat Fancy.

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